text a for president obama and b for the republicans to 622639. you can go to our blog and leave a comment. we encourage you to do that. i'm joined tonight by sam stein, political reporter for "the huffington post." don't you dare give me a hard time about the packers. who is winning the conversation with the american people? what kind of week was it on the hill? >> you can say the president is winning this conversation at this junction. these things change. a lot of this is posture. when you look at the circumstances that play here, it seems clear to me that democrats would be more comfortable going over the fiscal cliff. you have republicans not just sort of modern republicans, but real conservative republicans saying we got to do what the president wants to do on taxes and debate the other issues later down the road. i don't see democrats doing something of similar hair si on their side. the president controls the game. >> why are the republicans disz dising a $600 billion cut? why do they say that's not a credible proposal? >> it's laughable,